Read Online Marked in Mexico by Kim McMahill - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kim McMahill
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how are you holding up?” she asked Megan.
“It’s amazing what we can make ourselves do when the alternative is death,” she replied with a slow resigned grin and shrug of the shoulders.
Jessica was proud of her. Megan was only twenty-two, naïve and from what she assumed was a privileged home, yet the girl had grit. After everything they had been through, Megan never faltered a step and she’d just managed a weak smile. Jessica was starting to believe Megan would pull her own weight and maybe even surprise them a little.
“Let’s take inventory and then we had better get moving again.” Jack popped the clip out of the pistol and counted the bullets. There were only six in the clip and he hadn’t located any more when he did the quick check of the house. He assumed the ammunition had been kept in the van in case they had to make another hasty retreat. He pulled the clip out of the rifle and found it only had two rounds left. The clip he’d grabbed off the kitchen table was empty, so he tossed it into the brush, set the rifle aside, and took a long drink from the water jug before passing it on to Jessica. She did the same and handed it to Megan.
“What did you get from the house?” Jack reached for the pack.
“I don’t know. I saw it hidden in a corner under the table and grabbed it. I thought if there wasn’t anything useful in it, we could at least use it to haul the blanket, water, these few tortillas and anything else we came up with.”
“Good thinking.” He pulled the zipper back and peeked inside. The color drained from his otherwise dark complexion as he stared at its contents. “And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.”
Jessica’s eyes went wide at the expression on Jack’s face. She scrambled around in order to look inside the pack. She gasped. Neatly piled inside were a dozen sandwich-size bags filled to bursting with what she assumed, despite her limited knowledge on the subject, must be cocaine.
“I was hoping they’d decide it would be easier to try and nab some new bargaining chips and not come after us, but if they know we have this, they’ll hunt us down. Depending on the quality and where it’s headed, I imagine we’re holding enough cocaine to fund a small civil war or at least a pretty substantial uprising. No wonder they didn’t want money. They obviously don’t need it.”
“Why would anyone leave this lying around? How would I have known this ratty bag was worth so much? What are we going to do?” Jessica ranted, near hysterics.
Jack kept staring into the pack, shaking his head in disbelief. Megan now leaned over his shoulder and Jessica was plastered next to him and he was finding it difficult to breathe.
“Just back up and give me some space,” he snapped, while shooting both women annoyed looks.
Jessica scooted a few feet away and Megan joined her. They watched in awe as Jack carefully removed each of the bags and laid them on the blanket. Under the bags he found a roll of pesos and a cloth bundle that appeared to be a pillowcase. He carefully removed and unrolled the bundle to expose three grenades.
For a moment Jack sat staring at the items and thinking. The odd assortment of weapons he had seen at the ruins added to the grenades made him more certain than ever that the three men who had abducted them were in a dangerous line of work, which required them to keep a certain amount of weaponry on hand. They were drug dealers, not mercenaries or terrorists, which was of some comfort. They clearly weren’t professional killers. He wondered if they even realized what they had. Only two of the grenades could do any damage and the third was just a smoke grenade.
“Here, one for you, and one for you, and one for me.” Jack handed Jessica and Megan a grenade, keeping the smoke grenade for himself. “Be very careful with these. If you see no other way out, pull this pin and toss it at the bad guys and run like hell. You’ll have about ten
“It’s amazing what we can make ourselves do when the alternative is death,” she replied with a slow resigned grin and shrug of the shoulders.
Jessica was proud of her. Megan was only twenty-two, naïve and from what she assumed was a privileged home, yet the girl had grit. After everything they had been through, Megan never faltered a step and she’d just managed a weak smile. Jessica was starting to believe Megan would pull her own weight and maybe even surprise them a little.
“Let’s take inventory and then we had better get moving again.” Jack popped the clip out of the pistol and counted the bullets. There were only six in the clip and he hadn’t located any more when he did the quick check of the house. He assumed the ammunition had been kept in the van in case they had to make another hasty retreat. He pulled the clip out of the rifle and found it only had two rounds left. The clip he’d grabbed off the kitchen table was empty, so he tossed it into the brush, set the rifle aside, and took a long drink from the water jug before passing it on to Jessica. She did the same and handed it to Megan.
“What did you get from the house?” Jack reached for the pack.
“I don’t know. I saw it hidden in a corner under the table and grabbed it. I thought if there wasn’t anything useful in it, we could at least use it to haul the blanket, water, these few tortillas and anything else we came up with.”
“Good thinking.” He pulled the zipper back and peeked inside. The color drained from his otherwise dark complexion as he stared at its contents. “And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.”
Jessica’s eyes went wide at the expression on Jack’s face. She scrambled around in order to look inside the pack. She gasped. Neatly piled inside were a dozen sandwich-size bags filled to bursting with what she assumed, despite her limited knowledge on the subject, must be cocaine.
“I was hoping they’d decide it would be easier to try and nab some new bargaining chips and not come after us, but if they know we have this, they’ll hunt us down. Depending on the quality and where it’s headed, I imagine we’re holding enough cocaine to fund a small civil war or at least a pretty substantial uprising. No wonder they didn’t want money. They obviously don’t need it.”
“Why would anyone leave this lying around? How would I have known this ratty bag was worth so much? What are we going to do?” Jessica ranted, near hysterics.
Jack kept staring into the pack, shaking his head in disbelief. Megan now leaned over his shoulder and Jessica was plastered next to him and he was finding it difficult to breathe.
“Just back up and give me some space,” he snapped, while shooting both women annoyed looks.
Jessica scooted a few feet away and Megan joined her. They watched in awe as Jack carefully removed each of the bags and laid them on the blanket. Under the bags he found a roll of pesos and a cloth bundle that appeared to be a pillowcase. He carefully removed and unrolled the bundle to expose three grenades.
For a moment Jack sat staring at the items and thinking. The odd assortment of weapons he had seen at the ruins added to the grenades made him more certain than ever that the three men who had abducted them were in a dangerous line of work, which required them to keep a certain amount of weaponry on hand. They were drug dealers, not mercenaries or terrorists, which was of some comfort. They clearly weren’t professional killers. He wondered if they even realized what they had. Only two of the grenades could do any damage and the third was just a smoke grenade.
“Here, one for you, and one for you, and one for me.” Jack handed Jessica and Megan a grenade, keeping the smoke grenade for himself. “Be very careful with these. If you see no other way out, pull this pin and toss it at the bad guys and run like hell. You’ll have about ten
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